Proverbs 5

Listen to Proverbs 5

Warning Against Adultery

1 1My son, be attentive to my wisdom; 2incline your ear to my understanding,
2 that you may keep 3discretion, and your lips may 4guard knowledge.
3 For the lips of 5a forbidden[a] woman drip honey, and her speech[b] is 6smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is 7bitter as 8wormwood, 9sharp as 10a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet 11go down to death; her steps follow the path to[c] Sheol;
6 she 12does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 And 13now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your 14labors go to the house of a foreigner,
11 and at the end of your life you 15groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and you say, 16"How I hated discipline, and my heart 17despised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 18I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation."
15 Drink 19water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your 20springs be scattered abroad, streams of water 21in the streets?
17 22Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your 23fountain be blessed, and 24rejoice in 25the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely 26deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts 27fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated[d] always in her love.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with 28a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of 29an adulteress?[e]
21 For 30a man's ways are 31before the eyes of the LORD, and he 32ponders[f] all his paths.
22 The 33iniquities of the wicked 34ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 35He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is 36led astray.

Cross References 36

  • 1. Proverbs 4:20; [Proverbs 2:1, 2]
  • 2. Proverbs 22:17
  • 3. Proverbs 1:4
  • 4. Malachi 2:7
  • 5. See Proverbs 2:16
  • 6. Psalms 55:21
  • 7. [Ecclesiastes 7:26]
  • 8. Deuteronomy 29:18; Jeremiah 9:15; Lamentations 3:15, 19; Revelation 8:11
  • 9. Psalms 57:4; [Psalms 55:21]
  • 10. See Psalms 149:6
  • 11. See Proverbs 7:27
  • 12. ver. 21; Proverbs 4:26
  • 13. See Proverbs 4:1
  • 14. Psalms 127:2
  • 15. Ezekiel 24:23
  • 16. Proverbs 1:22, 29; See Proverbs 12:1
  • 17. Proverbs 1:25; See Psalms 107:11
  • 18. [Psalms 94:17]
  • 19. ver. 18; [Proverbs 9:17; Song of Songs 4:12, 15; Jeremiah 2:13]
  • 20. See Psalms 68:26
  • 21. [Jeremiah 9:21; Zechariah 8:5]
  • 22. [Proverbs 14:10]
  • 23. [See ver. 15 above]
  • 24. Deuteronomy 24:5
  • 25. Malachi 2:14
  • 26. Song of Songs 2:9, 17; Song of Songs 8:14
  • 27. [Jeremiah 31:14]
  • 28. See Proverbs 2:16
  • 29. See Proverbs 2:16
  • 30. Psalms 119:168
  • 31. Hosea 7:2; Hebrews 4:13; See Job 14:16; Psalms 11:4
  • 32. ver. 6
  • 33. See Psalms 7:15, 16
  • 34. Proverbs 6:2
  • 35. See Job 4:21
  • 36. [Job 12:24]

Footnotes 6

Proverbs 5 Commentaries

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.